You have probably noticed that Shinsuke Nakamura hasn’t been featured on Smackdown Live over the past few weeks. This is certainly weird, considering that he is the current WWE United States Champion. At the moment, he has no clear feud for the upcoming Hell in a Cell PPV event.
So what does the future have in store for Nakamura and the Title? Let’s speculate a little bit.
A big problem right now on Smackdown is the lack of babyfaces. Nakamura really doesn’t have too many Superstars on the roster who he can feud with. The top babyfaces are AJ Styles, Daniel Bryan and Jeff Hardy, All of whom are involved in top feuds on Smackdown right now. If you look at the roster, there really isn’t any other strong options for Nakamura.
So What Does That Mean For Shinsuke?
My guess is that WWE will have Nakamura host an open challenge for the U.S Title at Hell in a Cell. If they do that, there are a few ways that this could play out. This could be a good way for WWE to call up a (babyface) Superstar from NXT if they want. Or, at the very least, this could be a fun place for someone like Tye Dillinger or even R-Truth to get a Title match that they usually wouldn’t get.
If I am wrong, it looks like Nakamura could be off the card completely at Hell in a Cell.
What do you think will happen at Hell in a Cell? Could you see an open challenge happening? Or do you think there is another strong feud for Nakamura that I am missing? Let me know in the comment section below.
On a related note, here is our theory about the Shield over the next few months.